Mike Moran: The benefits of 'liking' Will Flanagan

At the risk of being completely misunderstood, let me begin this column by stating that I like Will Flanagan. No, this is not an endorsement of the Fall River mayor in next year's election. At this point, who knows if Flanagan will even be a candidate for mayor, or some other office? Politicians often keep the public guessing. And sometimes, they have no clue what their own future will be.

At the risk of being completely misunderstood, let me begin this column by stating that I like Will Flanagan. No, this is not an endorsement of the Fall River mayor in next year’s election. At this point, who knows if Flanagan will even be a candidate for mayor, or some other office? Politicians often keep the public guessing. And sometimes, they have no clue what their own future will be.

But by “liking” Will Flanagan, I get to keep abreast of his activities on that wonderfully interactive and sometimes dreadfully boring social networking outlet known as Facebook. You find someone, click on the little “Like” icon or the “Add Friend” box, and that’s it — you’re in. If the person who interests you thinks you’re worthy, you’ll soon be sharing lasting memories with your new best pal.

The mayor goes by Will Flanagan on his Facebook page — not William Flanagan or Mayor Flanagan, just Will Flanagan. That’s a far less grandiose title than the one he used when sending a letter recently to “His Excellency Mitt Romney.” The mayor is showing a bit more humility, I guess.

Facebook is hardly a new thing. But before it’s replaced by the next computer craze and is cast aside like the online equivalent of a mood ring or Cabbage Patch Kid, we can still log-on and share an endless feast of pet pictures, inspirational quotes, political lectures and other forms of daily discourse. To me, it’s fun to go online and read what people have to say and to add a few ideas of my own. When you post something, another person may “like” it. Then you can acknowledge the “like” by “liking” their “like.” Are you following this?

Not that my own posts are particularly insightful, believe me. But Facebook provides a clubby little escape from the stresses of the day. It’s the computer pastime that changed the word “friend” from a noun to a verb. And when someone gets too opinionated, intolerant, or self-important, you can quickly “unfriend” them and free yourself from their long, misspelled screeds with a simple click of the mouse. It’s truly empowering.

So when a friend — a real one, not a digital one — suggested I review Flanagan’s Facebook “wall” (yeah, that’s what they call it), I found it to be a cornucopia of fascinating information.

I’ll give the mayor this — he’s everywhere. He goes to more places and participates in more things in a day than most people do in a week. Take a look and you’ll see the abundance of photos and captions for yourself. Here’s Flanagan supervising operations at the Central Street sinkhole. Here he is cutting a ribbon at the city’s newest restaurant, and high-fiving children who visit his office.

Page 2 of 2 - One photo captures him buying a cup of coffee at one of our many Dunkin’ locations — really! And my favorite, the mayor smiling broadly as be buys Pay As You Throw bags at a local supermarket.

Fortunately, you can control your own editorial content on Facebook. That’s one feature that makes it particularly useful for politicians. Here’s an example: in The Herald News, one of last week’s headlines read, “Fall River unemployment unchanged in June, third worst among Massachusetts cities.”

Yet, the same news on the Will Flanagan Facebook page was delivered this way: “Unemployment remains in single digits and our recent rate is the lowest since 2008.” While both headlines are factually true, Flanagan takes a decidedly glass half-full approach.

I’ll give the mayor credit for this: he takes his lumps from lots of detractors on his own Facebook page, responding directly to some of his harshest critics. He could delete the criticism and turn things into a one-sided love-fest, but he doesn’t. And some of the sharpest barbs are rather strongly-worded.

I don’t know if Flanagan personally handles his postings on Facebook or whether a staffer or volunteer does it. I suspect he doesn’t do it himself, based on the third person style of the posted captions, like “Mayor Flanagan continues to promote summer reading and our children in Fall River.”

In any event, Flanagan’s Facebook world has got it all — the fluffy photo ops, the “let’s get down to business” pep talks, and the angry criticisms too.

It’s all so entertaining. I mean, really, what’s not to “like?”

Mike Moran is a well-known SouthCoast media personality. His column appears in The Herald News ever other Thursday. Email him at mikemoranfr@aol.com.